We recently blogged about our Financial Information Kit and have more news to share! We’ve added a new ‘additional resources’ section to the kit.
The first of these new resources is an article from LawNow Magazine called “We’re Calling to Set up a Time to do an Audit”.
Most people have the same reaction to audits as they do to getting a tooth pulled or getting their legs waxed: they cringe as a feeling of extreme anxiety sweeps over them.
But, at least in the case of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) audits, it’s often an unnecessary reaction. Most audits completed by a representative of CRA confirm that a charity is in compliance with the Income Tax Act and if not, it’s usually a case of correcting minor records transgressions. This article reviews what is covered in a CRA audit, why they occur, and what is required from a charity when an audit is done. It also covers how an audit may be concluded.
We hope that with this information your organization will not live in fear of audits but embrace them; think of them as an opportunity to show how transparent your charity is.
(Ok, maybe embrace is a strong word, but you will know what to expect and will survive!)
A Question about Paying with Coins
Question of the month from the Garvie Reading Room:
I had over one hundred loonies in my money jar. I rolled them up and took them to the grocery store. I tried to pay my $100 grocery bill with the loonies, but the cashier wouldn’t let me pay with them. The store manager said that he didn’t have to accept the coins for my purchase. Is that true? My friends say, “Of course you can pay with loonies. They’re legal tender in Canada!”
The law in Canada (specifically the Currency Act) does say that coins issued under the Royal Canadian Mint Act (such as our $1 coins which we affectionately call loonies) are legal tender in payment for purchases. However, the Currency Act also says that there are limits in how many coins you can use in one transaction. Section 8(2) says:
“A payment in coins referred to in subsection (1) is a legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins:
(a) forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars;
(b) twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar;
(c) ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar;
(d) five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and
(e) twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.”
This means that you can’t actually take a hundred loonies to pay for your $100 worth of groceries.
The Currency Act goes on to spell out in section 8(3) that more than one purchase from the same place in one day is considered to be one total amount for the purpose of these limitations. So you cannot try to get clever and divide your $100 purchase into four $25 purchases so you can pay each with your loonies!
That leaves all of us spending our coins a little at a time, or going to the bank to trade them for bills.
You can learn more about the making, use and collection of coins from the Royal Canadian Mint website.
Oops, a Slip of the Lip!
This blog post is an excerpt from Bench Press in the March/April 2012 issue of LawNow magazine. To view the magazine and subscribe please go to www.lawnow.org.
An Ontario man will get a “do-over” of his criminal trial after the trial judge made a small but crucial error of speech.
Madame Justice Faye McWatt of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice was instructing a jury about the importance of the presumption of innocence just before they left the courtroom to consider their verdict. She said “It is only defeated if, and when, the Crown counsel has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Guilty – I’m sorry, Mr. Wilson – is guilty of the crime charged.”
Mr. Wilson’s counsel was not amused when the jury found her client guilty. She filed an appeal, and noted “The trial judge erred in failing to order a mistrial or provide a curative instruction after mistakenly referring to the appellant as Mr. Guilty.”
The appeal will be held later this year.
Illegal Activities in a Rental Property
I went out of town and a friend was staying at my place to look after my dog. My landlord caught him smoking pot on the balcony, and now the landlord is trying to evict me. Can my landlord do that?
Probably not. Under the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), if the tenant commits any illegal acts or carries on an illegal trade in the property, then the tenant has committed a substantial breach of the tenancy agreement, and can be evicted by the landlord. But, the issue in your case is that you were not the one who was committing an illegal act; your friend was.
Generally speaking, if you did not have knowledge of or control over the illegal acts, then your landlord cannot evict you for them. In the 2007 case Fairmont Hotels Inc. v. Zwir, from the Provincial Court of Alberta, the landlord tried to evict the tenant for a similar reason. The tenant’s cousin had come to stay with her, and while she was in another apartment, the cousin smoked a joint in her place and got caught by a security guard. The landlord tried to evict her for committing an illegal act, and the Judge wrote at paragraphs 16 and 17 that:
The illegal act here is a criminal act and under criminal law, in these circumstances where the tenant neither knew nor authorized the illegal activity, it is not likely the tenant did anything illegal.
Accordingly, I am not convinced that the tenant, Ms. Zwir, has breached Section 21 of the Act and accordingly I am not convinced that the illegal act here puts Ms. Zwir in substantial breach so as to justify summarily terminating her tenancy.
In your case, ignorance is bliss!
So what to do if your landlord serves you with a 14 day notice terminating your tenancy?
If you don’t want to leave, then you can serve your landlord with a notice of objection. The notice of objection should state the reasons why you do not agree with the termination notice. You must serve this notice on the landlord personally, or by registered or certified mail, before the termination day in the landlord’s notice. If you meet these requirements, then the landlord’s notice terminating your tenancy is ineffective and your tenancy stays in place. If your landlord still wants to evict you, then he has to make an application to terminate your tenancy.
Remember that if you are going to object to the notice, you need to follow the rules and serve the landlord properly and on time.
If your landlord does make an application to terminate your tenancy, then your landlord will serve you with more papers, and you will have a chance to respond to the application and tell your version of events.
And next time you’re out of town, you might want to give your dog a vacation at one of those fancy pet hotels instead.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What if the landlord does not give the proper amount of notice?
- Can the tenant move before the notice takes effect?
- What if the landlord does not use the property for the reason stated in the notice?
- What happens if the tenant does not give the proper amount of notice?
- If the landlord has done something wrong, but it’s not a substantial breach, what can the tenant do?
LawNow: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
The latest issue of LawNow: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way is available.
Carole Aippersbach states in Viewpoint – A Cautionary Tale:
Let’s face it, no one wants to think about what happens if the thing that does not work out is your entire life. Who likes to think about death, or, worse yet, the possibility of being completely incapacitated for the rest of your natural life?
But writing your will and planning your estate don’t necessarily have to be gloomy affairs. The latest issue of LawNow shows that it can be life-affirming to plan ahead for those you love. As Carole concludes, “don’t play the odds – have the back-up plan.”
Alberta has a new Wills and Succession Act; read our articles to find out the top ten things you need to know about the new Act and how the Act amends family law.
Did you know that different rules apply to the wills and estates of Aboriginal people? Read John Edmond’s article to find out more.
Articles on testamentary trusts and unjust enrichment complete the focus on wills and estates.
The special report for this issue is Freedom of Conscience. Linda McKay-Panos describes what Freedom of Conscience means for Canadians. Rob Normey writes about PEN Canada, an organization that advocates for freedom of expression.
LawNow’s columns are full of interesting information as usual; check out columns such as Human Rights Law: Sizing Up Discrimination, Whatever Happened To… The Irwin Toy Company, and Not-for-Profit Law: Transparency for All?.
See the Table of Contents and select articles for free at www.lawnow.org
Subscribers can log in to see the full issue.
Moving Forward: Supports for Victims of Domestic Violence Conference
Are you a social worker, community worker or lawyer who works with victims of domestic violence? If so, have we got a learning and networking opportunity for you!
Community Initiatives Against Family Violence and the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta are excited to announce, Moving Forward: Legal and Psychological Supports for Victims of Domestic Violence Conference on April 24, 2012 at the Santa Maria Goretti Community Centre in Edmonton, AB. This full day conference will feature keynote speakers and multiple breakout sessions by presenters who work in the family violence and legal fields to support victims as they move forward in their journey. It will also be an opportunity for delegates to learn more about domestic violence from both a legal and a psychological perspective and to become more aware of the wide array of services available to victims of domestic violence. The registration fee is $45.
Domestic Violence is a societal issue that affects 1 in four women and 1 in 7 men at some point in their lives. The Edmonton Police Service received 6500 domestic violence related calls in 2010. We do know that only about 25% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the police (Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2011). Alberta has the second highest reported incidence of domestic violence in Canada. We are tied with Saskatchewan.
This conference is an opportunity for professionals to increase their knowledge base on legal issues and community supports, build relationships with other professionals, and reflect on their practice.
We gratefully acknowledge the Department of Justice Canada Victims of Crime Fund for providing funding for this event. Every year Justice Canada chooses a theme for Victims of Crime Week. For 2012, the theme is “Moving Forward.” This theme acknowledges both the journey that victims of crime undertake as they make changes in their lives and the work done in the last 30 years to improve services for victims of crime.
The conference brochure is available here.
You can view a listing of presentations and register at www.ciafv.com.
Financial Information for Your Charity
If you’re like me, you’ve owned, borrowed, or discreetly flipped through some version of the “for Dummies” book series. I own Wine Tasting for Dummies, borrowed Excel for Dummies from the library and listened to Spanish for Dummies on CD. I am willing to acknowledge that, occasionally, I don’t know everything. I need basic information presented in an easy format that actually helps me learn! I want something that answers my questions and I like to be able to flip back as needed to remind myself what I’ve learned.
If you are looking for information on keeping financial records for registered charities in Canada, you likely want the same things – easy-to-read basic information, quick reference sheets, and answers to your questions!
Charity Central has created a Financial Information Kit to fill this need.
The kit contains a series of frequently asked questions on financial reporting and registered charities. This includes answers to questions like:
- Once we’re a registered charity, do we need a professional accountant?
- What should we look for in choosing a professional accountant, whether volunteer or paid?
- How should the accounting records be set up so we can easily complete the Registered Charity Information Return (T3010)?
- Is it a good practice to have our financial statements audited by a professional accountant?
- What are the different types of services that a professional accountant can provide?
The kit also contains six tipsheets:
- Choosing a Professional Accountant
- Setting Up a Chart of Accounts for a Small Organization
- Setting Up Financial Books and Records
- Financial and Other Information Needed to Complete the Registered Charity Information Return (T3010)
- Getting Ready for an External Audit – What Can You Prepare?
- Other Tips on Working with your Auditor – Common Issues During an Audit
This kit is available for free download at www.charitycentral.ca/docs/financialkit-en.pdf.
More Stuff I Wish I'd Known Yesterday
Do you know what I’m struggling with today? I’m struggling with the concept of tough love. I feel really bad for all of the tenants who have had horrible things happen to their rental buildings lately, but I also think that this is (in a phrase I never would have used before working here!) a “teachable moment.” How can you avoid being the tenant on the TV who has lost everything? Get tenant insurance. Just go out and get it. It doesn’t cost that much (you can even spread the cost over the year by paying in installments), and your lease probably requires you to have it in the first place.
Why do you need it? So that if your apartment burns down, falls down, is broken into, or gets up and walks away, you will be able to buy new stuff. One of the most common things I hear from tenants is that “my stuff isn’t that nice anyway, so it’s not worth it for me to spend the money on insurance.” Wrong, wrong, wrong! Let’s break it down: let’s say you pay $200.00 for one year of content insurance. Let’s say that your place is destroyed, and all of your stuff is lost. If you spent the $200.00, then you pay the deductible, and replace your crappy stuff with brand new stuff. How great is that? If you don’t buy the insurance? Well, hello, free couch in the back alley that may or may not be crawling with bed bugs. Hello, internet café, where no one washes their hands before they touch the keyboards. Get it? You will have nothing: no couch, no laptop, no TV, nothing.
The other common thing I hear from tenants is “if the place burns down, the landlord has to buy me all new stuff because it’s his fault.” Really? Does anybody actually believe this? Guess what would happen if you went to court to try to force your landlord to pay for all new stuff for you? The first question would be “Were you required to have tenant insurance under your lease?” You’d have to say yes, and then your case would be thrown out and you’d still be left with nothing. Well, actually, worse than nothing, because you’d probably have to end up paying your landlord’s court costs.
Use your head, and go buy insurance.
Until next time, make sure you think ahead and take the spoon out of the sink before you turn on the water or you’re going to have a big ol’ mess on your hands…
You can find out more about insurance and renting here.
Top 5 Tips for Bringing Law into the Classroom
CPLEA has its own youtube channel! You can view it here. Our first videos posted are tips for teachers to bring law into the classroom. Watch all 5 tips below.
Stay tuned for more Vlogging (Video Blogging).
Hells Angel Can't Stay
This blog post is an excerpt from Bench Press in the January/February 2012 issue of LawNow magazine. To view the magazine and subscribe please go to www.lawnow.org.
A Federal Court of Canada judge recently ruled that Mark Stables, who has been a permanent resident of Canada since he came from Scotland as a seven-year-old child, and who has no criminal record, cannot stay in Canada.
Justice de Montigny ruled that the government has the right to expel him because he is a high-ranking member of the Hells Angels.
Mr. Stables argued that the Hells Angels is not a criminal organization, but the Judge stated that the evidence is overwhelming that the Hells Angels is “first and foremost” an organization dealing in drug trafficking, extortion, theft and murder.
He wrote: “This is not a case where the applicant did not know the nature of the organization until it was too late – either he did not care or chose to be willfully blind to its activities. Clearly, the framers of the Charter [of Rights] could not have intended that the applicant’s membership in the Hells Angels could be protected through his freedom of association and expression, despite the overwhelming criminal history of the organization.” The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act allows for a person to be barred from Canada for “organized criminality”.
Stables v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) 2011 FC 1319 (CanLII).